


Flower Crowns and Line Art(House Plants and Ink)

by watcherofworlds



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, F/M, Forbidden Romance, Secret Admirer, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: In the years since she started working at the flower shop run by her mother and stepfather to lend them extra help when her stepsisters headed off into their separate careers, Felicity has never actually met the people who run the tattoo parlor next door. Of course, there's one among their number- Oliver, with his piercing blue eyes and muscular arms and lines of tattoo ink always peeking out above his shirt collar- that she has no qualms about admiring from afar. And, if she's being honest with herself, spending far too much time fantasizing about getting a full view of the tattoos that she was sure must cover his skin all over in an artful riot of color and shading and shapes.Then one rainy day, minding the shop while her parents are away, Felicity finds Oliver admiring a display of handmade flower crowns, and she begins to wonder if, perhaps, her long distance admiration might finally have a change to blossom into a real connection with him. And when, after Oliver's visit, she begins finding unsigned drawings left at the front door of the shop every day, drawings of her among the flowers she works with for a living, she dares to hope that the attraction she feels to Oliver might be mutual.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 30
Kudos: 81





	1. Chapter 1

“Felicity?” Her mother’s voice cut into her daydreams, jolting Felicity back to the present and the real world. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine Mom,” she mumbled, eyes downcast, busying herself with rearranging the cut flowers in the vase in front of her. “Why do you ask?” Her mother shrugged.

“You’ve just seemed… distracted all day,” she said.

“She was probably fantasizing about that pretty tattoo artist from next door again,” Jerry, the seasonal worker at the shop, put in, passing between them carrying a potted stargazer lily.

“Which one?” her mother asked, because there were three- at least as far as they’d seen- artists working at the tattoo parlor next door and all of them could be considered pretty, depending on one’s personal preference.

“Oliver,” Felicity answered unthinkingly, and immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. Why, why,  _ why  _ did she insist on providing the means to her own humiliation? However, to her surprise, her mother just nodded knowingly.

“Well,” she said, “he  _ is _ very pretty. I would be fantasizing about him too, if it were me in your position.”

“Just so long as fantasizing is  _ all _ she’s doing,” Felicity’s stepfather, Quentin, who was manning the register that day, spoke up. Turning to address Felicity directly, he added, “Oliver Queen is nothing but trouble, and you’re better off staying far away from him.”

“It seems a little unfair of you to just assume that,” Felicity replied. “You don’t even know him.”

“I’m not assuming anything,” Quentin countered. “Queen had more than one run in with the law back when I was still on the force. He’s a spoiled rich boy who’s never had to face consequences a day in his life, and he doesn’t care who he hurts.”

“People change, Dad,” Felicity argued, not sure why she felt the need to jump to Oliver’s defense. After all, it wasn’t like they were friends. They’d never even actually met. Quentin shook his head. 

“Not all people,” he said. “Not him. Please just trust me on this.” 

“I’m an adult,” Felicity couldn’t help but point out, since at the moment her stepfather seemed to be thinking that she was still a teenager and acting accordingly. “Shouldn’t I be allowed to make the judgement for myself of whether or not Oliver might be bad for me?” Quentin shook his head again.

“I’ve seen far too many girls fall under his spell to let you try,” he said. “Please just listen to what I am telling you, for my sake if not for your own.” At this, he locked eyes with Felicity, who sighed. 

“Fine,” she said. Quentin had a desperate look in his eyes, and even if she didn’t understand why he was so adamant about this, she still didn’t have it in her to refuse him. “If it means this much to you, I promise I’ll stay away from Oliver Queen.” Quentin nodded approvingly.

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad.” He paused for a moment as if contemplating something and added, “I don’t mean to be overbearing, Felicity. I just… I just don’t want you to get hurt or end up with your heart broken.”

“I understand,” Felicity said. “You’re just looking out for me.”

“Exactly,” Quentin replied. “I’m so glad you understand.”

“Now that we’ve got that settled,” Felicity’s mother interjected, “can we all please get back to work?”

“Sorry Mom,” Felicity mumbled contritely, and quickly went back to her work.

“Sorry Donna,” she heard Quentin echo as she went to fetch a broom to sweep up the scraps of flower stems left scattered all over the floor from earlier work of putting together orders from their customers. She kept herself focused on her work, her head bent to stare intently at the floor and make sure she didn’t miss anything, but as she neared the worktable adjacent to the register she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of her mother crossing the space between the two to have a conversation with Quentin in low voices, in defiance of her own insistence that they all get back to work.

“I think you might have been a bit too harsh with Felicity just now,” the person in question heard her mother say. “She’s right, you know. She’s an adult, and she should be allowed to make her own decisions about her life, regardless of whether or not we approve of those decisions.”

“I’m just trying to make sure she doesn’t get hurt again,” Quentin replied defensively. “After Cooper-” Felicity stiffened at the mention of Cooper, and in the same instant, Quentin was cut off by her mother shushing him.

“I told you before that we don’t talk about that boy,” she hissed. Felicity sighed.

“He’s not Voldemort,” she said, though not loudly enough for anyone to hear. Trying to distract herself from her parents’ conversation, however tempting it might have been to continue eavesdropping, she quickly finished up with her sweeping and went to put the broom away. As she was returning from the supply closet where it was kept, she glanced out the front window of the shop and saw Oliver, heading toward the entrance of his own place of work. His gaze drifted toward the flower shop, and, spotting Felicity in the window, gave her a smile and a wave in greeting. She felt her heart skip a beat in response to the gesture, and suddenly she couldn’t escape the notion that keeping her promise to Quentin to stay away from Oliver Queen was going to be a lot harder than she’d thought.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Oliver’s gaze roamed over her body, touching every inch of her with eyes that blazed with desire. Desire for  _ her _. Felicity’s breath caught in her throat. As much as she’d imagined something like this while reading the cheesy romance novels that were her guilty pleasure, nothing could have prepared her for the real thing. Nothing she had ever imagined came anywhere close to  _ this.

_ “I want you,” Oliver murmured in a voice hoarse with barely controlled emotion, pulling Felicity back to the moment at hand. He drew her slowly and inexorably toward him, the pull of his embrace as irresistible as gravity. Choked by emotions of her own, Felicity couldn’t seem to find the words to tell Oliver that she wanted him too, but it didn’t matter because she could see in his eyes that he knew it, and they drew closer, about to meet in the middle, their lips about to touch, and _ \- The all too familiar “Doo wee doo” of Felicity’s morning alarm woke her, cutting her dream short right before the critical moment. With a sigh, she reached over and turned it off, then set her phone back down on her nightstand.

“Frack,” she mumbled, falling back against her pillow and taking a moment to try and compose herself and summon her motivation to face the coming day. She’d never hated the Doctor Who theme the way she did in this moment. Setting it as her alarm sound had seemed like a good idea at the time, but lately she’d begun to resent it for always seeming to cut short these dreams she kept having of Oliver right at a crucial moment. Although, ideally, she’d rather not be having them at all. They hadn’t been an issue- beyond being an experience that she was sure she’d die of embarassment if anyone were to find out about- before yesterday when she’d made her promise to her stepfather to stay away from Oliver, but now she didn’t see how she’d be able to keep it if he was in her head like this, in such an intimate and very much not PG way. 

“It’s fine,” she told herself aloud. “It’s not like I’m incapable of distinguishing between them and reality.” With that in mind, she finally found the motivation she needed to get out of bed and set about her usual morning routine. Somehow she always seemed to be in a hurry in the morning, and today was no different. She only had time to get dressed, splash some water on her face in lieu of washing it, and brush her teeth before she had to be out the door and on her way to the shop.

Against all odds, somewhere in the rush she managed to find time to grab breakfast after sending a quick text to her mother letting her know that she was on the way, and she walked through the front door of the shop with everyone’s coffee order in hand thirty minutes afer leaving her apartment, breathless and flushed from her mad dash but feeling triumphant because she’d still managed to make it before opening.

She took a few minutes to get everyone’s coffee to them- Quentin his usual dark roast with three sugars and a splash of half and half, her mother an iced coffee, and Jerry a green tea since he didn’t drink coffee- then took her own coffee and breakfast and managed to escape to the break room for a few precious moments of solitude and peace. She ate her breakfast and drank her coffee at her leisure, savoring every mouthful, anticipating the moment when someone would come looking for her needing her help with some project or another and the true work of her day would begin.

That moment didn’t come until she was finished with her breakfast and her coffee was half gone, when there was a knock on the break room door and her mother came in. 

“Well, you certainly seemed to be in a hurry this morning,” she remarked, closing the door behind her.

“Yeah,” Felicity replied with a sheepish smile. “Somehow, I always am. You would think I would have learned the concept of time management by now.” She laughed, but without humor. After a moment, she asked “What’s going on? Do you need me out there for something?”

“No, your dad and Jerry can handle things for the moment,” her mother replied. “I came to talk to you. About yesterday.”

“What about yesterday?” Felicity asked warily.

“I just think your dad was just a bit unreasonable, ordering you to stay away from Oliver Queen as if you were still a teenager,” her mother replied, taking a seat across the table from her. “You’re an adult, fully capable of making your own decisions, and if you decide that you want to try and see where things with Oliver might go, I want you to know that I’m on your side.” Felicity stared at her for a moment, attempting to process her statement. It wasn’t uncommon for her to go against decisions Quentin made that she didn’t agree with, but it  _ was _ uncommon for her to do it like this, without him around to hear her express her disagreement. 

“About that,” she said at last, thinking that now might be the perfect time to consult her mother about the issue that had been bugging her all morning. “Lately I’ve been having these... dreams. About Oliver.”

“Not  _ those _ kinds of dreams,” she added hastily in response to her mother’s suggestive smirk, deciding not to mention that the only reason that they weren’t was because she always seemed to wake up before they could get to that point. “Before yesterday, they weren’t much of an issue beyond being  _ utterly _ mortifying, but now… now I can’t help but wonder if they’re going to make keeping the promise I made a whole lot more difficult than it needs to be. I mean, how am I supposed to be able to stay away from Oliver if he’s in my head like that?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” her mother reassured her. “I mean, it’s not as if you can’t tell the difference between those dreams and reality, right?” 

“Right,” Felicity agreed, her mother’s words echoing what she had told herself after waking that morning. 

“But Felicity, I think this highlights a larger issue at work here,” her mother went on. “I know it’s not in your nature to think selfishly, but there’s a difference between not thinking selfishly and living your life completely for others. You gave up your dreams to come help us here so that your sisters wouldn’t have to give up theirs, and you made that promise to your dad yesterday not because you wanted to but because you saw that it was important to him that you did. Don’t you think it’s time that you do something for yourself?”


End file.
